Shadows and Ash
by TrashKan
Summary: AU retelling of ME2 with Ashley joining the SR2 as well as a couple of other additions. Will attempt to make the story a little more realistic in some areas, and incorporate the shadow broker and arrival DLC. Will hopefully be able to update regularly. Rated M for language, occasionally without Jack being involved. :)
1. Background Information

Mass effect and its characters, story lines etc belong to Bioware blah blah blah.

Ok so this is a idea that's been sitting in my head ever since I played ME2 the first time, although I've developed it quite a bit more recently. Ashley's reaction on Horizon never entirely felt right and then they dragged it out a bit in ME3, so her involvement in the collector mission is the primary change here. I'm also going to expand the ground team with a couple of other characters (one completely new one altered, neither will be Shepard's sister) that should bring more conflict to the operation and provide a bit more variety to the possible scenarios the team encounters.

As far as the story goes the main plot is primarily unchanged but I will change some things to bring a greater sense of believability to certain elements of the story. The shadow broker and arrival dlc will be incorporated in what will hopefully be a more cohesive fashion, probably won't write a variation on operation overlord but might reference it. The recruitment and loyalty missions will be different at varying degrees.

The story itself will cut in and out a bit until Horizon but there are some bits that just need to be included and one or two others that just feel like too much fun.

First things first the background and ME1 choices need to be covered so let's get started.

Shepard's background

Shepard qualifies as a Sentinel, with an significant shield upgrade and an overload function for the tech side, and a powerful warp and throw for his biotics. However he is good with more conventional combat as well, preferring to carry a sniper rifle in addition to his shotgun and sidearm.

He is a paragon with a renegade streak.

Have a mixed background here so bear with me. Both he and his sister Jane were born on Earth but raised on Mindoir until the slaver attack that killed Shepards father when he was thirteen, he and Jane(who was twelve) were the only survivors left in their settlement. They were then raised by their mother on various ship postings until they both enlist (separately).

John, a 1st lieutenant fresh out of officer training, is on Elysium for the Skyllian Blitz, awarded the Star of Terra for his work there and then applies for N7 training. Jane, fresh out of basic training is on Akuze and is the only recorded survivor of the thresher maw attack, the alliance picks up on this and uses the siblings miraculous survivals for PR benefit already making them minor celebrities. Jane doesn't follow her brother into the N7 program but does go through officer training.

ME1

Wrex Killed Fist.

Saved colonists on Feros, got Cipher from Shiala who stayed to help Feros.

Helped Emily Wong also gave incriminating evidence on the criminal activities of Exo Geni and Binary Helix (minus Rachni Data).

Saved Rachni Queen.

Romanced Ashley and saved her on Virmire (obviously).

Talked down Wrex, saved Kirrahe and spared Rana Thanoptis on Virmire.

Saved Terra Nova from Balak.

Shut down rogue VI on Luna.

Talked biotic cultist leader Major Kyle into surrendering.

Talked down Toombs by relating to him through Jane.

Exposes Cerberus' crimes with evidence from Edolus, Binthu, Nepheron and Chasca as well as the testimony from Toombs and Dr. Wayne.

Helped Garrus with Dr. Saleon, Wrex with his families armour and Tali with her pilgrimage gift.

Cleared out the Geth staging points in the Armstrong cluster.

Convinced Saren he was Indoctrinated so he killed himself.

Saved the Citadel council.

Recommended Anderson as Human councilor.

Staff Commander John Shepard is promoted to Captain after the Battle of the Citadel, in response to his pivotal actions there, as well as the irregularity of having a Commander as CO of the Alliance's most advanced frigate. He also receives numerous commendations from the alliance for saving Eden Prime, Feros and Terra Nova, as well as an honourary award from the Asari for saving Councilor Tevos and the Destiny Ascension.

Gunnery Chief Williams (on Shepards recommendation) is promoted to Operations Chief and offered Officer Training, she accepts and by the time she arrives on Horizon she has just achieved the rank of Staff Lieutenant.

Staff Lieutenant Jane Shepard was assigned to the SSV Dunkirk during the Battle of the Citadel. Early in the engagement the frigate took some damage in which all weapons systems are disabled and the commanding officer is killed, consequentially the Lieutenant takes command. The younger Shepard notices the SSV Perugia sustaining heavy damage from Geth weapons fire, but manages to intervene by using the smaller Dunkirk to shield the cruiser from what would have been a fatal blow.

Whilst the action cost the lives of seven of her own crew it saved the lives of the much more heavily populated Perugia, earning her a promotion to Lieutenant Commander after the battle. Two more years of distinguished service earn her a promotion to Staff Commander and the position as the XO of the SSV Sydney.


	2. While you were sleeping

"Wake up Captain!" A familiar, heavily accented, voice woke him from his dreamless sleep.

Shepard groaned as he opened his eyes, a dull ache throbbing through the entirety of his body as a shockwave swept through the station, the vibrations shaking him slightly as confusion about his predicament was settling in.

"Shepard wake up! This facility is under attack and you need to get moving!"

He sat up rubbing his jaw as his mind started to fill in the details. He was in a medical facility of some sort, the voice over the PA system belonged to the woman he vaguely remembered from when he woke earlier. On everything else he was drawing a blank.

"There's some armour and a pistol in the locker to your left. You don't have much time, GO!"

He continued to process his situation as he followed the directions of the voice he now recognised as being Australian. He thought back to before he woke, the last thing he recalled was...

Being spaced as the Normandy was destroyed?

"Oh Shit!" he exclaimed as he froze in what was a rare moment of panic for the Captain.

'What had happened to his crew?' 'What had happened to Ashley?'

A shockwave from another explosion brought him back into the moment as his ally spoke again.

"You need to take cover the canisters by the door are going to blow!"

He looked over to the door and saw that they indeed were about to explode, his instincts as a soldier finally coming into play as he dived behind a bench, narrowly avoiding the bits of shrapnel that were scattered across the room behind him.

* * *

Staff Lieutenant Ashley Williams flopped down onto her bunk, physically exhausted after yet another day of failure. After five weeks on Horizon, she was yet to discover any hint of Cerberus activity in the colony. Of course the 'official' reason for her presence was to improve the public opinion of the Alliance through 'acts' of good will, with 'acts' being a communications station and defense turrets, which funnily enough seemed to annoy as many of the locals as it pleased.

Despite being tired, Ash wasn't quite ready to sleep so she decided to check her messages, scrolling over the latest batch of health and safety messages that almost every Alliance soldier seemed to ignore, she came across a new message, just received from Tali.

Seeing the name of the energetic little Quarian automatically brought her mind back to her time on the Normandy which sub-sequentially brought her mind onto John. It wasn't the first time that day that she had thought of him. It was in fact a daily occurrence that she would stop for a minute or two to think about Shepard, it had been ever since he had died, ever since she met him if she were really honest with herself. What it ultimately meant was that every day she had to live with the pain, every day she mourned the loss of the love of her life just for a little while before she could distract herself with work or something else.

Sighing deeply she refocused opening Tali's message.

_Tali: 'I'm finally getting away from the fleet for a bit, they've given me a new assignment rescuing someone who's gotten trouble on their pilgrimage, thank the ancestors!'_

As soon as she finished reading a second message popped up.

_Tali: 'Not that I'm happy he's in trouble, I am just happy to get away from everyone for a bit.'_

A smirk had formed on Ashley's face as she read the message from the woman who was like a little sister to her. She moved onto the third message from Tali that she'd received while she was reading.

_Tali: 'Not that there's anything wrong with everyone aboard the Neema, oh you know what I mean.'_

Ash chuckled, a rare occurrence since John had died, but it was something that made her grateful that she was still in close contact with Tali. She quickly sent off a response.

_Ash: 'Is it strange that I Imagined you saying "Oh Keelah" multiple times as I read your messages.'_

_Tali: 'Not as strange as I want it to be, but my point is that I will be out of contact for a while. Just wanted to give you a heads up. Talk to you when I get back, Cya Ash.'_

_Ash: 'OK Tali, Keep safe.'_

With that Ash closed her message account and leaned her head back on the pillow, pleasantly surprised by Tali's ability to cheer her up when she needed it most. She turned off the lights and tried to sleep.

When she finally did succumb to sleep she dreamed of her John.

* * *

'Cerberus... Fucking Cerberus'

John had been angry from the moment he learned who Lawson and Taylor worked for, and a part of him was screaming at him to just shoot them in the head and be done with it. After all he had uncovered the evidence of the terrorist groups crimes, he had seen his sisters scars from the thresher maw attack on Akuze and had heard what happened to her first hand.

Shepard was not one for summary executions though, and like any good soldier he understood the need for intel, so he stayed his hand and decided to hear 'The Illusive Man' out. On top of this he realised that he had no serious hope of any backup, since everyone he knew thought he had been dead for the past two years.

'Two years'

The thought that he had lost all that time, that his friends and family had dealt with his death and probably at least for the most part, moved on with their lives was a blow to John. The fact that the Council and Alliance had ignored his warnings about the reapers, despite all the accumulated evidence and testimony, was just salt in the wound.

But now he had to compose himself. He had to be ready for a his meeting with Cerberus' leader, so he cleared his mind of other thoughts as stepped onto the communication platform.

"Captain Shepard" The shady figure began, almost seeming to hide behind the smoke from his cigar as he deposited some ash into the tray beside him.

"Illusive Man" Shepard replied coolly as he adopted a stance that was intended to slightly intimidate without putting any real effort into it. "I thought we'd be meeting face to face?"

"A necessary precaution for people that know what you and I know."

"And what is it exactly that you and I know?" John asked probing for information.

"That Humanity is facing the greatest threat of our relatively brief existence."

"The Reapers." John snarled as he replied, not even attempting to hide his disgust at the mention of the sentient machine race.

'Well at least I know for sure why they rebuilt me' he thought to himself.

"Good to see your memory is still intact how are you feeling?" the Illusive Man enquired, almost as if he was an old friend or acquaintance.

"Cut the crap, I'm obviously not here for small talk."

"Cerberus isn't as evil as you believe, we are in fact on the same side, we just have different methods."

Johns blood boiled as he angrily responded "I know a few people that might disagree with you on that. Admiral Kahoku, Corporal Toombs, my own sister..." he let his voice trail off.

"Those were actions by outlying cells, as regrettable as their actions were they don't change the fact that humanity is at war. Nobody wants to admit it but while you've been sleeping entire Human colonies have been disappearing. We believe it's someone working for the Reapers, just like Saren and the Geth aided Sovereign."

The Illusive Man continued to elaborate as he moved towards the Captain. "You saw it all yourself and you bested them all with little more than a stealth frigate, a mismatched crew and pure will power. And that's just two of the reasons we chose you."

"Nothing you say is going to get me to trust you, I'll need more than just words."

"I'd be disappointed if I could convince you that easily. We've just lost contact with Freedom's Progress, go see for yourself and take operatives Lawson and Taylor with you." he paused for a moment before continuing. "If you then decide that you wish to part ways, you are more than welcome to. However if you stay we have a ship and crew being arranged for you as we speak, and you will have Cerberus' full backing in dealing with the threat to the colonies."

With that the communication ended and Shepard turned to leave, A small smile appearing on his face as he had already begun formulating a plan. He would play along with this and the moment he had dealt with this new threat he would hurt Cerberus badly. He would do as much damage from the inside as he could possibly manage, but in order to do this he would need help, as much as he could get. He would need his friends, he would need Ash and he would need the Alliance.


	3. Quarian Tactics

Tali'Zorah vas Neema sat up the front of the Quarian shuttle, reviewing the available data on Freedom's Progress as they approached the Human colony. Her task was to find Veetor'Nara, a young Quarian who had gone missing whilst on his pilgrimage. She noted that the colony had over 900,000 registered inhabitants which made that fact that the colony had gone dark rather disturbing, especially considering that as far as she could tell their communication systems were functioning perfectly well.

As they came In to land she looked over her shoulder at Prazza, the senior marine and her second in command for this assignment, and decided to warn him against the trigger happy tendencies she had noted on his record.

"Prazza, just so we're clear, this is a Human colony so no firing unless fired upon, or if I give the command. We don't want to get someone killed or start a conflict if we can avoid it."

Prazza was annoyed about being second In command to someone he felt was only In charge because she was the admirals daughter. However since he could see the logic in her order and despite the urge to do otherwise he replied with a simple "Yes ma'am."

Tali detected the undercurrent of disdain in Prazza's voice, however before she could even consider what to do about it the shuttle was rocked by an explosion, shaking violently as it fell the final few metres to the ground.

To the great surprise of all of the marines Tali was the first to recover, bouncing straight up from her seat and over to the shuttle door, opening it before the marines could even stand. The moment the door opened Tali saw four Loki mechs moving towards her as they opened fire, but she was ready hitting two of them with a crippling area overload as she pulled out her Scimitar shotgun, firing two rounds that eliminated other two mechs.

"Everybody out now and find some cover!" Tali ordered as she surveyed her surroundings and spotted the Ymir mech which was most likely responsible for shooting the 84 year old shuttle down.

Prazza and the five other marines followed her out and took cover behind some crates and around the side of one of the prefabs that covered the settlement, successfully avoiding the gunfire from the twin mass accelerator cannons in the mechs right arm.

Tali used this distraction as an opportunity to fire off the remaining six rounds in her shotgun damaging the Ymir's shields slightly. As the engineer correctly anticipated, this also made the Ymir see her as the greatest threat and consequentially it started to focus on her position off to the side, drawing fire away from the marines.

As Tali moved back into cover Prazza and the other marines opened fire and unleashed successive overloads on the mech, dropping its shields and causing it to malfunction, swinging its right arm across the battle field spraying gunfire at the marines catching one right in the center of his visor which killed him instantly. The mech, which was now directly next to the downed shuttle, was then finished off by an infuriated Prazza who fired a single round into the Ymirs head.

Upon seeing this Tali shouted out franticly to her squad "Get away from the mech it's going to blow!"

The marines to their credit reacted instantly and scattered, narrowly avoiding the blast from the downed mech and the chain reaction which resulted in the shuttle itself being engulfed in a fireball.

Prazza was enraged by this point and now that the fight was over he was going to let Tali know it.

"By the Ancestors, what were you thinking?" he screamed as he moved towards her, not caring that he was yelling at his superior in front of the entire squad. "You engaged the mech by yourself, and now Uto'Gani is dead and our shuttle is ruined because of it!"

Tali was taken aback by Prazza's verbal assault, and she was saddened by the marines death, but she also recognised the danger in drawing the entire squads attention when more hostile mechs were likely still wandering around.

Directing her attention to the other marines and away from Prazza for the moment, she ordered "You four establish a perimeter and be on the lookout for more mechs." The marines paused for a moment their loyalties torn as they looked between the squad leader and friend they'd known for years, and the mission leader who they were sworn to follow. Prazza realised this, and nodded his head in agreement before waiting for her to continue.

Tali thought over the battle that had just occurred for a moment before she turned her attention back to the squad leader. She held his gaze and stared him down, determined to defend her actions as she spoke.

"Prazza, I successfully engaged it early to draw its fire away from the rest of the squad so you and the others could take it down. I am sorry about Uto, but as you should well know, incidents like that mechs malfunction do happen, and in being a marine you should be somewhat prepared for an outcome such as this." She felt that she was being a little cold with that last bit, but it was a point that really needed to be made. "And as for the shuttle, that was your doing Prazza. You have been briefed on mechs such as those, and should have known that a finishing shot to the head would cause an explosion like that."

Any reply that Prazza could deliver was cut off by the sound of an approaching shuttle, They both glanced over to observe a white shuttle landing behind some prefabs a couple of kilometers to the south.

"Alliance recon team?" Prazza enquired ignoring the earlier hostilities between them for the sake of the mission.

"No we are well outside Alliance territory, most likely scavengers or possibly whoever is responsible for the colony disappearing." Tali replied. "We should get moving and try to find Veetor without attracting their attention. We don't know who or what we would be facing, but if they are the ones who took out this colony, it's likely that they would be too powerful for the six of us."

Prazza nodded in agreement before they gathered the rest of the squad and moved off into the settlement, trying to avoid the mechs and the new arrivals whenever possible.

* * *

Shepard looked over the two Cerberus operatives on the opposite side of the shuttle, trying to gage what type of people he would be working with.

Jacob Taylor seemed like a decent man, although he could tell the man had seen more than anyone should ever have to. Jacob just had that look in his eyes that told him he had lost any naiveté about the possible horrors one could encounter through life.

It was a look that Shepard knew all too well, a look that Shepard had himself.

He had learned over a brief conversation before they boarded that Taylor used to work for the Alliance but had become disillusioned with them over their bureaucratic red tape and inaction against serious threats, something John could fully understand. In short he was fairly certain Jacob was someone he could work with.

Miranda Lawson on the other hand was a whole other story. While she(like Jacob) certainly didn't seem like a true believer in the terrorist organisation, she was very loyal to them for reasons completely unknown. She was obviously highly intelligent and had looks that many women would kill for, however she certainly was not a 'people person' her outwardly cold demeanor and her unwillingness to share personal history of any kind saw to that.

Though he hadn't yet seen Miranda fight, the trust the Illusive man had put in her suggested that she not only knew what she was doing in combat but also had some leadership ability as well. Shepard also knew that she wouldn't show any hesitation in killing on the battlefield, after witnessing her execution of the traitor Wilson first hand.

John knew he couldn't trust her with anything other than the mission, at least he wouldn't be able to anytime soon.

John's thoughts were disrupted by a query from Jacob "Captain we are almost at Freedom's Progress, what are your orders?"

Shepard's response was clear but firm and without any hesitation. "While we're here to look for evidence, our first priority are any survivors. They will likely need help if there are any left and an eye witness testimony could give us valuable intel on who or what is behind this."

Shepard took a closer look at his team mates apparel and just as the shuttle was about to touch down he remarked. "In future you two might want to wear something that doesn't have the Cerberus logo on it. There are enough people in the galaxy inclined to shoot you on sight for working for the Illusive Man, so advertising it isn't the brightest idea." He paused before continuing "Also you both need to get some gear that will at least stop shrapnel if your shields go down. I can assure you no one on the ground team of the Normandy came out of it physically unscathed, and as you are currently dressed I have very high doubts for your respective survivals if we face any force of real significance."

"Yes sir." Jacob replied instantly.

Miranda was slower in her response, seemingly both annoyed and surprised for some reason unknown to John, before she acknowledged his assessment with a nod and replied with "Of course Captain."

The shuttle touched down and the door was opened, the three man team set foot on solid ground and Shepard lead from the front with a short order. "Ok you two, let's move."

* * *

**I thought Tali as the leader of a ground team would be an interesting topic to cover and there is a point to their shuttle being wrecked, which I will get to later. As for the second part of this chapter I think its good to cover Shepard's assessment of his new team, it goes towards his present mindset and will have an effect on their interactions throughout the story. As for the armour it always struck me as odd that they would fight what is essentially a war, in skin tight leather with the Cerberus logo on their chests just asking for people to try and kill or capture them. **

**For anyone who is wondering Ash will pop up again a couple of times before Horizon, but there isn't a heck of a lot to do with her until then. Although its still a long way off I'm also considering giving Traynor a cameo appearance on Horizon, I'd like to know what people think about that.**

**I should be able to get the next chapter up by the end of the week. Reviews are always appreciated by me so please especially if someones a little too ooc, so post them if you are so inclined, and thank you to those following this story, it is nice to know that people are at least enjoying this.**


	4. Standoff

It had been half an hour since Tali had seen the other shuttle and they had made very little progress into the colony due to the unusually high number of mechs they had encountered. Tali's focus had been on keeping away from the mechs and the occupants of the other shuttle in order to avoid conflict and casualties and so far her plan had worked in that respect, but they had seen no sign of Veetor. Occasionally she could hear the unmistakable sounds of combat in the distance, and she was certain it was getting closer each time she heard it.

Realizing that they were going to be found by the other squad sooner rather than later, Tali turned to the closest marine and said "OK, it looks like we can't avoid the other squad so we are going to be ready for them. Eri'Xera, you're the best shot here so I want you on the roof of the prefab over there. See if you can get a look at them so we can get an idea of what we're in for. If we have to fight them I may need you to cover me. Also keep your eyes open for Veetor he shouldn't be too far anymore."

As Eri left to clime the prefab Tali turned to the rest of her squad before continuing "Prazza you and the others need to take up defensive positions around that doorway, it's likely that they will come through here soon. I will try and talk to them and avoid any bloodshed, do not open fire unless they do. Now go!"

As Tali waited for the marines to get in position, she spoke to Eri over the com link "Eri'Xera, what can you see?"

Eri paused for a moment before responding "I can see the other squad and they are definitely Human."

"Ok, can you see how many of them there are and how are they equipped?"

Eri looked through the scope of her assault rifle, carefully observing the approaching squad as they engaged some mechs before she replied "I can only see three of them. Two male, one female. Each of them has multiple weapons and they all appear to be skilled fighters, although only one of them is wearing any sort of armour."

"Biotics?" Tali queried.

"At least two of them are, haven't seen the one with body armour use any yet bet that doesn't mean he can't."

"How long before they arrive?"

"It should be at least a few minutes, although they are moving rather quickly."

"Understood, Eri'Xera and good work. Have a quick look around and see if you can spot Veetor."

"Yes ma'am." Eri answered with the evidence of a smile in the sound of her voice, before hesitantly asking "and uh ma'am?"

"Yes Eri'Xera?"

"You can call me Eri."

"Of course Eri." This time Tali was the one smiling because for the first time (at least from her perspective) she felt that she was being shown more respect from a member of Prazza's squad than her position as mission leader entitled her to. Whilst she didn't like the pressure that leadership placed upon her she did like the impression that at least Eri thought she was doing a good job.

Tali was brought back to the present by Eri once more as she exclaimed. "I've spotted Veetor!"

* * *

Shepard had decided that they would make their way to a security station. This would be the most likely place to obtain evidence and disable the mechs, which had done little more than delay them up until this point. He would use his overload to destroy one or two of the Loki mechs at a time and shoot any others he would encounter with his Katana or Predator. Whilst the mechs weren't much of a test for them, they did give Shepard the chance to further assess the two Cerberus operatives at his side.

From what he had seen of them, the Captain could tell that Lawson and Taylor together were good. He had seen Jacob fight before and was appreciative of his combat ability, but after witnessing the two using their biotics in tandem he had to admit he was impressed. Miranda's precise singularities would pick up multiple Lokis and be detonated less than a second later by a warp from Jacob. The problem was that their fighting ability was the only good thing Shepard had seen thus far in Freedom's Progress.

Everywhere they went they saw evidence that seemed to suggest that the entire colony had simultaneously decided to get up and leave everything behind. There were half-eaten meals on a dinner table, TVs left running, an unlocked safe that still seemed to possess all of its contents, and all of this without any signs of combat and no trace of whoever or whatever was responsible.

Using standard Alliance hand signals (which to his surprise even Miranda knew) he directed his team to take cover either side of a doorway as he moved to bypass the lock on the door. Once that was done he moved through the doorway with his Predator drawn and the two Cerberus operatives flanking him. To their surprise they were met with a heavily accented "Stop right there!"

Shepard quickly glanced around at the six well armed ...'Quarians? well that's a surprise' he thought to himself as he glanced around at the group which had staged a quite effective little ambush for them.

He kept his weapon trained on the speaker as another awfully familiar Quarian stepped out of cover without her weapon drawn and approached him whilst speaking to the original "Prazza, I said I'd handle this! Wait... Shepard?"

"Tali?" Shepard queried, lowering his weapon as her name slipped from his mouth.

"You know someone in Cerberus?" Prazza accused, since he'd noticed the logo on Miranda's uniform.

"No, I.." Tali began to backtrack in confusion before she noticed the Cerberus logos as well and then fury started to surge through her. "You died and...Cerberus? You must be a clone or something! How dare they?"

She drew her gun but stopped short of firing as he began to speak.

"Wait, I'm not a clone!" he pleaded before he glanced back at the rest of his squad "Stand down you two, Tali's a friend."

Jacob lowered his weapon immediately but Miranda hesitated and began to argue "But Captain..."

Shepard cut her off quickly with a hint of anger in his voice "Stand down now Lawson or I swear to God, I'll shoot you myself!"

Along with everyone else, Miranda was stunned and stared at him wide-eyed for a second before following his order and lowering her weapon.

Shepard continued, but with a coolness to his voice now "Good, now remember when I gave you that Geth data Tali? Did it help you complete your pilgrimage? Do you sleep better now that you're back on the noisy ships of the Migrant Fleet?"

Tali noted the confused glances between the two Cerberus operatives in amusement, before she lowered her weapon and turned to Prazza "Everyone lower your weapons he's a friend."

"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus!" Prazza countered, his assault rifle still leveled at Shepard.

Tali glanced around and noticed that only Eri had followed her order as she defiantly stepped in between Prazza and Shepard and ordered. "Put those weapons down NOW!"

Prazza, like Miranda before him, hesitated for what felt like an eternity to Tali, before grudgingly complying. "Why is your friend working with Cerberus?" he queried.

"I don't know, why don't we ask him?" she replied as she turned to face Shepard.

"I died Tali, Cerberus spent two years 'rebuilding' me. They want me to investigate the attacks on Human colonies like this one." Shepard calmly responded.

"A likely story. No organisation would spend so many resources to bring back one soldier." Prazza replied, his statement dripping with skepticism.

Tali countered with a strange mix of annoyance and amusement in her voice "You haven't seen Shepard in action Prazza, trust me bringing him back is worth every penny."

"What's a penny?"

Tali groaned "Ugh, now I know I've spent too much time talking with Humans, never mind Prazza."

Shepard chuckled in response, though he couldn't help but wonder whether that meant she had kept in contact with Ash. Putting that aside for now he asked "So what brings half a dozen Quarians here?"

"We're here looking for a young Quarian named Veetor, he was here on pilgrimage."

Jacob interjected at this point "Isn't that a little unusual? I mean for a Quarian to go to a remote Human colony?"

"Quarians can go where they choose on pilgrimage, Veetor liked the Idea of helping a small settlement, he was always nervous in crowds." Tali explained.

Prazza interjected once more "She means he's unstable. Combining that with a breach in his suit and an infection from an open air exposure means that he's probably delirious by this point."

"We just spotted him a couple of minutes ago heading to the security station. He is most likely the one who activated all of the mechs." Tali continued, her annoyance with Prazza really starting to soar.

Shepard replied "He might know what happened to the colonists, we should team up to get him to get this done more easily."

"Good idea, we will need two teams to get past the blast doors in any case."

Prazza angrily spoke up once more "So we're working for Cerberus now?"

"No, Prazza you're working for me! If you have a problem with that you can wait here until we get back!" Tali's anger bubbled over for a moment, but it seemed to work as Prazza stayed silent once more.

Shepard opted to end the discussion now and get on with the mission, hopeful that Tali would keep Prazza in line. "Ok then, stay in radio contact, let's move out,"

* * *

**Thanks to all of those who have written reviews thus far, especially Endrius and Wilkco who have given me a few ideas to consider for future chapters. If anyone sees a mistake or plot error please let me know, i'm likely to make at least a few and I do want to improve my writing and deliver a clear and cohesive story. More reviews are always welcome.**


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry this isn't another chapter yet

I'm going on a holiday so I wont have much of an opportunity to post for the next couple of weeks but once I get back I am not too far off completing the freedoms progress portion of the story. Once thats done I will replace this message with it. I also would like to mention that I intend to make the chapters larger on average so I can cover most missions In a single upload. Once again thank you for the reviews. Will be back soon.


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